Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch (The Ryan Family #1) by Carolyn Brown

Addy closed the door again and headed across the hallway to her bedroom with a full head of steam and anger. She was almost to her bedroom when Jesse called out to her, “Hey, got a minute?”

“Sure, but I promise I don’t know what’s gotten into Mia. She’s not at all the snippy little witch she’s been all day. She’s had a dose of smart aleck since she came home from college this semester, but not as bad as today. I think it has to do with Ricky O’Malley, the boy that she keeps saying is just her friend,” Addy said.

He stopped so close to her that she got a whiff of his shaving lotion—something woodsy with a hint of musk—the same scent he had used in high school. She inhaled deeply and forced a smile. Whatever was going on with Mia wasn’t his fault.

“Must be having a rough day. Maybe she’s more serious about Ricky than she’s letting you believe, or maybe it’s the heat,” Jesse said. “I was wondering if you’d seen a red toothbrush in the bathroom. I looked and it’s not there. If you threw it out, that’s fine, but I forgot to pack that and my hairbrush, both. I never worried about it before because I knew I had those things here.”

Mia swung her door open in time to catch what he’d said about his toiletry items. “How are you ever going to run a ranch if you can’t even keep up with your hairbrush and toothbrush?” She stomped down the hallway toward the kitchen.

“I’m sorry,” Addy said. “I may send her to summer classes just to get rid of her if she doesn’t straighten up. I assure you she wasn’t like this before she went to college.”

“She’ll grow up,” Jesse reassured her. “Remember when we thought we were old enough and smart enough to set the world on fire?”

“Oh, yeah. We were full of spit and vinegar back then, but it didn’t take us long to figure out that we had to have matches to set the world on fire, and to get those we had to find jobs that paid money.” Addy smiled back at him. “But I haven’t seen your toothbrush. I do keep a couple of extra ones. Be glad to share one with you, but you’re on your own when it comes to your hair.”

“Thank you,” Jesse said.

“Be right back out.” The door to Addy’s room was open so she went in, opened a drawer, and picked up a blue toothbrush. “It’s not red, but it’ll work until you can get a red one.”

Her fingertips brushed against his as she handed it to him. She could have sworn that sparks flew at his touch, but she quickly forgot all about it when she heard the blast of a car horn and the front door slam. She took off in a dead run and made it to the porch in time to see the taillights of an older model pickup truck driving away. Mia was waving out the passenger window as the vehicle disappeared into the night.

“You okay?” Jesse asked right behind her.

“I guess she’s decided to go through the rebellious stage later than most kids,” Addy said. “That Ricky kid was supposed to come to the door, not honk for her.”

“I’m not very smart when it comes to teenage girls, but if you ever need to talk, I’m out in the bunkhouse,” Jesse offered.

“Thanks,” she said.

“See you in the morning.” He held up the toothbrush. “And thanks for this.”

“Sure thing.” She tried to keep calm, but what she wanted to do was stomp a hole in the wooden porch.

She waited a few minutes and then went back into the house. She could hear Sonny, Henry, and Pearl all visiting in the living room and overheard something about a cabin in Colorado. She couldn’t blame them if they wanted to get away before next summer. Who knew what condition Sonny might be in by that time if this new treatment plan took a wrong turn and he got worse? Now that Jesse was home, they should go as often as they possibly could.

She went back into her room—Jesse’s old bedroom. Packing up all his trophies, ribbons, and even some of his clothing and toting them out to the bunkhouse to store them had not been easy for her. Learning back in the spring that he was coming home to stay had almost sent her right back out to the Texas Panhandle to her parents’ ranch. She knew she could live with them until she got a job in a nearby hospital or nursing home, but she sucked it up and decided to stay in Honey Grove. Mia had gone to high school here, and some of her classmates, including Ricky, had even attended college with her. Mia loved Sunflower Ranch, and Pearl and Sonny loved her like she was their own granddaughter.

Addy went to the window overlooking the backyard and pulled open the lace curtains. Out there in the distance, a light came on in the bunkhouse. She saw a movement and wondered if Jesse had a girlfriend, someone just waiting for him to ask her to be with him here in Texas. The thought caused jealousy to shoot through her body.

“You have no rights to him,” she said, but she couldn’t keep her mind from going back to that night they had spent in the bunkhouse. They hadn’t turned on the lights, but had only a small candle, and they had promised to be honest with each other from that time on, and never keep secrets about how they felt.

“Yeah, right,” she muttered as she dropped the curtain, got her things together, and headed for the bathroom at the end of the hall. “Like that last part could ever happen, given the results of that night.”





Chapter Six